The development community have wrapped 140 000 apps under their collective belt; Apple have seen 3 billion apps downloaded from the App store; and the hitherto iconic iPod is fading into Apple’s focal background even as it surpasses an impressive number of its own: 250 million units sold. Steve Jobs and Apple haven’t made any promises – the iPad isn’t even at market yet. But it has pulled at myriad heartstrings: it has grabbed the spotlight. But why is it important and is it worthwhile to buy, and if so, who will benefit from it?

In preparing a great title for this short article, I chewed through about 10 trees worth of paper. Nothing seemed to fit and I tossed the dried carcasses into a throwaway plastic basket. You see, the Apple Tablet has been rumoured ever since the Newton made the mistake of hyping itself in a Steven Seagal movie. Well, rumours are coming to another head just ahead of the WWDC, CES, and about every other big meeting capitalised by thousands of geeks.

Like any good fan site, TMA look expectantly toward extension of Apple’s iDevice range; whether that be a faster iPod, iPhone, the oft’ rumoured audiophile iDevice, or a tablet: any news is good news. Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge and Paul McDougall of Information Week may be on to something. With just a day between their reports, the couple pair partners colleagues respective editors have spouted some exciting tid bits concerning the elusive and storied tablet Mac.

In the latest development surrounding the mysterious Apple Tablet/netbook, the unit is purported to be tied to a Verizon contract. The purveyor of this rumour is none other than Scott Moritz, the man who correctly sussed out AT&T’s subsidised iPhone pricing which would later see the handset drop to 199$ in the USA. In Canada, we know contracts; we know that a softer monetary at point-of-sale means the sting of 3 years’ worth of expensive bills. What is the good of this rumour? Basically, it is another hint that the device will house a 3G radio.

Looking a little deeper, Apple have a few charmed patents under their sleeve that may be able to less the sting of a contract.

There is simply nothing more exciting than new hardware announcements from Apple. If this rumour from the Taiwanese Infotimes is to be believed, 1st-generation touch screen based hardware from the Cupertino company could be in the hands of Apple’s faithful by October. As part of that faithful, I am counting my pennies now and have come up short by about 20 000.

While not the news we hope and pray for, we can still pray. Pray that things set themselves aright (aside from sliding prices). Apple have been losing selling power now for the 2nd straight quarter. Mac shipments for the month of April have slipped 1.8 percent and quarterly sales by 3, a number that proves that even Apple are susceptible to recession.

In 2008, Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, otherwise known as ‘Steve Notes’ sold out for the first time since 1996. You won’t be able to get in this year either if you have not already bought your ticket and signed the non-disclosure agreement stating that you will not let any secrets fly that are not loosed already from somewhere in China. Yep, 2009’s WWDC is as good as gone but how will it fare compared to its earlier incarnations?

Dead Donkey hath again been beaten; by, it seems, a magnificent in AT&T, who by disclosing to Boygenius the nature of another rumour, however shallow, may have made his or her position, redundant in the unlikely circumstance that Apple or AT&T, become perturbed at another negligent slip of the tongue. Much ado has been made regarding, of course, the iPhone, which being in its very nature a company defining weapon of secrecy, needs at the very least, sustained and unpromulgated confidentiality. TouchMyApps, in accordance with rumour sites, news aggregates and feeds, feel that great gravity should be employed when breaking upon such rumours. The reason we so deem, being in our nature an iPhone-dedicated site, is that rumours are at core, useful in conveying vain hints, desires or at worst, the obvious.

BoyGeniuscannot stop hyping up of objects that no one needs ;). Today their ninja’s report that the next iDevice may sport another buzzword: OLED screens. Indeed, not only does the rumour specify OLED for the iPhone but OLED for the yet unborn Netbook or tablet which has been stirring Apple zealots for many years.

According to Smarthouse, “Apple already have working prototype of a new Netbook which will be manufactured in Taiwan with the OLED screen supplied by LG”. This contrasts with earlier reports that Wintek would be manufacturing the screens for Apple. LG are purported to be working on a special OLED touchscreen that does away with fingermarks even after constant use.

Of course, release of a next-generation iPod and iPhone is not news or a rumour in itself. Apple tend to release redesigns fn their iPod and iPhone family once per year with updates to the capacity on a sometimes more frequent schedule. iDevice fans, this year may so far be great for rumours, but it also may out some great new products from Apple.

Computerworld blog reckon that the 3.0 sneak peak may have connections with the rumoured premium App Store Apps as well as Apple’s highly anticipated tablet. Why would these premium apps connect with the tablet? Resolution. The tablet is currently rumoured to be a 10-inch touch panel produced by Wintek. Those 10 inches would boast a far higher resolution than the current 480*320 of today’s iPhone and iPod Touch allowing for a break from mere thumb-driven input.

Whether these new premium apps will be games or productivity apps – all is conjecture until actual announcement, however with the new screen real estate, Apple’s device would drive a market for more expensive and higher quality applications. Would Apple skip over the Netbook market entirely for an Apple designed tablet? If they can retain a usable in/out array (complete with firewire) a tablet would be the perfect device for road warriors, pirates, ninjas and barbarians – bring it on Apple.